Lou Reed, Tom Morello, Others to Pay Tribute to Woody Guthrie

To commemorate Woody Guthrie’s would-be-100th birthday in July 2012, several musicians have teamed up with the hugely influential folk singer’s estate to pay tribute to him.

The compilation, due for release Sept. 27, is titled Note of Hope: A Celebration of Woody Guthrie and will feature all-new music adapted from unpublished and “lost” lyrics written by Guthrie, who died more than 40 years ago. Among the prominent musicians who will be featured on the album are Lou Reed, Jackson Browne, Ani DiFranco, Tom Morello and Michael Franti.

Note of Hope is only the first Guthrie tribute slated for release, however. Another compilation is in the works for January 2012, and will be created in a similar fashion. Though no title has been revealed yet, Jim James of My Morning Jacket and Jay Farrar of Uncle Tupelo are on board with the project.

Wilco, in conjunction with Billy Bragg, already penned music to rare Guthrie lyrics more than a decade ago on Mermaid Avenue. Appropriately, the two-volume collaboration will see a reissue sometime next year as a fancy box set, which is rumored to include previously unreleased material.